SEO for Dummies & Pros

Tuesday, 6 August 2013

If you're reading this post you're probably looking for ways to increase your credibility in search engines in order to drive more traffic to your websites which in turn would result in increased profits.

Rather than looking for affordable search engine optimization services it would be wise to perform your own SEO on your website and only hire professionals if you really need their help or once your business becomes to large to handle all on your own.

If you're looking for ways to optimize your website or blog yourself, you should take a look at this detailed page on SEO for dummies and Basic Blogging SEO Tips which would link you to relevant posts on topics that interest you.

Don't slack - Give it time

One of the biggest mistakes that most bloggers and people with websites make is that of quitting. There are basically three kinds of webmasters, namely:

Bloggers who write for the fun of it

People who write because the love writing on topics they love and at the same time love the cash they make.

People who are in it just for the cash.

Among the three types mentioned above, the most successful people are going to be those that fall in the second category. Care to wonder why?

Well, it's really simple actually. People who want to earn from things they love would definitely give it their best and at the same time they would also be looking for ways to monetize what they do. No more elaboration would be needed on this point as you've definitely got my point.

It does take a year or so for most websites to begin seeing the traffic that they've always expected. Therefore, never give up, go on and see what's instore for you.

Content is and will always remain king

You may have heard this phrase a million times already, but have you ever given it serious thought? What does it mean?

There are plenty of sites that say you need 500 words on each of your pages. Well if it's a blog that you're running that's not going to be a problem at all. However, if you have a product review or sales site - is this practically possible? Wouldn't it just result in stuffing of words that aren't necessary?

Therefore, as long as you build a website that people love - one that you yourself wouldn't mind returning to, you would be successful.

Affordable Search Engine Optimization - Look at your roots

There are plenty of factors that you're going to need to look into. As I don't want to repeat things that are already published on this blog, I'm linking you to a post that covers it all: DIY Search Engine Optimization

Sunday, 28 April 2013

If you've already got a website or blog setup, you must have heard about keywords and that they're good for you. However, if you're new to this field there's a lot that you need to learn about keywords before you actually think of proceeding with the development of your blog or site.

What are keywords?

It's not rocket science (Not that rocket science is hard), everyone would be able to understand what keywords are and you probably have a faint idea already. They're the terms people type into search engines in order to search for what they're looking.

When you write content for your website you would write it naturally in your own words. Of course there are people who would use the same words that you've typed out and your site would probably rank well and voila! visitors to your site.

However, most people tend to use similar phrases in order to find what they need online and this is what you need to know in order to incorporate this into your website or blog. This is where keyword research kicks in.

What is keyword research?

Basically keyword research is the process of finding keywords or key-phrases that people would be searching for when they're looking for products or services that you offer.

One thing that can be said about keyword research is the fact that it's really difficult to find something that's searched for a lot and doesn't have a lot of competition already. And as you know, when you look up for something online there are millions of results that match your search phrase.

What should you do?

Of course it's not an easy process and therefore you need to come up with your own methods to optimize your website for search engine using the right keywords. Every single time before I write a blog post (Even this one) I take a look at the Google Adwords tool just to get a rough estimate on what people are actually looking for when they search online.

For this post I looked up "importance of keyword research" well, there were just 100 or so searches per month globally and the competition was massive, nevertheless I wanted to write about it and so here it is. After all, people who check out the other topics on the blog would probably be interested in it.

What I'm trying to say is that not all your pages need to be optimized for search engine traffic (i.e. don't bother about keywords all the time) as that's going to take away the fun from having a blog and you'd give up on it. So, a bit of keyword research, interest in the topic and the aim of giving your readers all the info they need should be your goal and you'd automatically rise in rankings on the SERP's (Search Engine Results) because:

People would be spending more time on your site and hence they'd probably share it. These days social sharing does have a tiny amount to play when it comes to being ranked.

You'd get back links from like-minded individuals who love what you've said.

Why Keyword Research is the most important aspect of SEO?

As you can read on this blog post about SEO for dummies you will see that there's a lot when it comes to Search Engine Optimization. However, personally I'd say without the right keywords you have nothing.

If at all you pick the wrong keywords you may happen to get a lot of traffic. But, the audience that you get may not be all that interested in what you have to offer and hence your business wouldn't be successful.

So, if you're going to be wasting time promoting keywords and phrases that only bring traffic your way you may need to re-think your entire plan.

Sunday, 17 February 2013

This article on Search Engine Optimization for dummies isn't just meant for complete beginners, there are going to be plenty of tips that even the so-called experts would find useful. One thing's for sure - I'm definitely not an expert and I can confidently say that no one is.

One thing that you need to know when it comes to Search Engine Optimization is that there are constant changes that take place in this field and you're continuously learning new things or making changes to your website (or your client's sites) in order to remain on the top.

Therefore, through this page on "Search Engine Optimization for Dummies" I'd be linking various helpful blog posts which in turn would guide you and in some cases lead to some other sites that offer amazing info. But, before we jump into these posts, let's just take a look at what SEO is in general:

Different kinds of Search Engine Optimization

When it comes to general knowledge regarding SEO, most people only know about Keyword Stuffing and that's one of the worst practices. Of course, you do need to place keywords in your articles but overdoing it is just trying too hard for nothing.

Basically, there are two kinds of Optimization strategies that you'd need to think of:

On-Page Optimization Techniques and

Off-Page Optimization Techniques

On - Page Optimization

Most of the Search Engine Optimization for dummies books and articles that you'd come across usually consist of just this category as it's one of the easiest to get right. However, there's a lot that you would need to learn when it comes to On - Page Optimization and some of the concepts that you would need to familiarize yourself with include:

Differences and effects of using a - (dash) and an _ (underscore) in your URL's

Importance of Page Load Speed and what you could do to improve it

Where to Place ads on your site for optimum conversion and Search Engine Approval

How to decrease your bounce rate

Best Interlinking strategies to give your site a boost on the SERP's

W3C validity of your website is another factor that you must take a look at.

Therefore, we see that 'On - Page Optimization' basically focuses on the overall clarity and ease of transition from one page to another while your visitor actually gains something and leaves with an answer to their question.

As a website or blog owner, you should aim to provide your visitors with detailed info on the topic such that they don't return back to the search results page. This is when you can say you were successful at your job. Else, it's just useless visits that waste your bandwidth.

As you may have seen on various other sites, the so-called 'Search Engine Optimization for dummies' covers only the above topics, but if you're a beginner that's a lot to digest - right? Well, that's the reason most people stop at that in their tutorials.

But, our aim here isn't to teach you everything in a single day. It's going to take you time and some experience to get it all right. Therefore, I've decided to give you all the info you need to have a successful website through off - page optimization as well.

Off - Page Optimization

One of the main aspects that you would need to focus on when it comes to Off-Page Optimization would be back-links. However, if I were you I wouldn't bother too much about this. At least, not until you've got plenty of content on your site. Just write high quality content that actually helps your readers and you would notice that it gains organic back-links on its own!

However, there are cases wherein you may feel the need to gain additional back-links on your own, in such cases you should make sure that the articles you write to post on article directories or as guest posts must be of really high quality, the quality that you wouldn't hesitate to post on your own blog.

Don't even bother trying to gain back-links through comments on other blogs and websites as in most cases you're going to be wasting time because they'd be deleted by the owner. Moreover, that's just a lame tactic and personally I hate people that do this. There are a few cases on this blog as well.

When you do this, you would not only gain a back-link, but also additional traffic from the site where you posted the article (As people would be impressed and want to know more). Moreover, not all back links are going to give you a boost in your search engine ranking, but if it's going to get you traffic anyway - why does it matter?

Therefore, through this page on 'Search Engine Optimization for dummies' you must realize that it's not the link that counts, but the quality of the article that gives you the link.

Factors to Focus on when it comes to Off - Page Optimization of your site:

Quality of the Back-links

The depth and quality of the articles you use to fetch links

Whether your content is Social network friendly or not

Get rid of Spam links using the Disavow tool.

That's all for now, more information would be added to this page 'Search Engine Optimization for Dummies and you' as and when we get new insights into the wonderful world of SEO.

Saturday, 16 February 2013

If at all you're planning on building a website for your business, personal use or maybe even a place to showcase your portfolio; you're going to need a hosting service. However, picking a web host isn't something that you would be able to complete within a few minutes.

You may need to spend a few hours in order to check out all your available options, as this is one of the most important steps towards building a successful website.

Sunday, 10 February 2013

If you're planning on setting up a new blog or website, one of the most important aspects that you would need to consider would be the domain name. Spend time brainstorming ideas for the name as this is going to be what your clients, readers and subscribers recall when they think of you.

You're domain name basically acts as your blogs address and this is how people are going to get to you. Therefore, you need to make sure that they would not have any difficulty recalling it; because, if they do, they'd just go to another website and you'd lose a lot of business this way.

Saturday, 12 January 2013

If it's your first time setting up a blog or
website, you may not be acquainted with niches, let alone micro niches. Micro
niche websites are the best shot to getting traffic to your website, but
setting them up isn't going to be easy. If it were, everyone would be doing it.
So, let's take a detailed look into this topic: